Nature's a Bitch

Yesterday, after going to lunch, we were all enjoying a break from the weekend of rain we had by playing in the yard. Hubby was pulling weeds, the boys were running around, and I was seeing which of my plants were being killed by slugs.

Suddenly, Fergus, one of our dogs, leaped out from under a rhododendron plant with a squeaking small animal in his mouth. I thought it was a rodent of some sort, and screamed in my, "eek, a mouse!" way. This is a rather new female behavior I never had as a child. I always had various rodents for pets and to get the creepy crawlies from a rodent...well, I'm a bit embarrassed by that! But I guess it's different to see one in your garage (happened this winter, and I shrieked and ran into the house) or outside, versus behind glass in a pet store.

Anyway, Hubby grabbed Fergus, who fortunately, being a bird dog, has a soft mouth, and let go of the squeaking animal, leaving it unharmed. It was a baby rabbit. As soon as I figured that out, I immediately went from "ew" to "awww!" We found the nest the bunny had come from, with its 6 siblings intact, looking equally cute, then went inside to figure out what to do about the bunnies, bringing the dogs with us. I looked online, and the website I read said the best chance for survival was to leave the bunnies, fix the nest as best as possible, and check to make sure the mother has returned. The mother is supposed to only come to the bunnies at dusk and dawn, and it wasn't supposed to be an issue that they smelled like dogs or humans, as long as no one was around the nest when she returned. OK, super!

I fixed up the nest, took a picture of one of the adorable babies, and put it back in the nest and covered it with grass, then put garden fencing around to keep the dogs out.

This morning, I didn't have time to check the nest before leaving to take Hutton to speech therapy - just saw that the fence was still in place. In the afternoon, when we got home, I checked the nest, and was saddened to see that the mother had not returned, and half of the bunnies were dead, and three were on their last legs. Apparently, bunnies really need that 5 minutes of nursing they missed, plus the mother has to help them rid their little bodies of toxins through the urine, which they can't eliminate on their own. I brought the three bunnies that were still alive inside in a box, and attempted to give them a dropper of milk, but one was already fading and stiffening, and the other two didn't seem to know what to do with the milk. I put them outside in a new nest in an area that dogs can't get to, and buried the dead bunnies near them.

It was just so sad to see those tiny little bodies, but that's how nature is. If a rabbit decides to make her nest in a yard that smells like dogs and humans, I'm not really sure what she expects to happen to her babies. Then I think that maybe she couldn't get through the fence to get back to her nest, but it was big enough that a cat could fit through, and there was lots of space at the bottom to crawl under. I thought maybe she would have moved the bunnies to a new nest rather than just abandoning them. Sigh. Rest in peace, sweet bunnies.

Bunny

Revisiting the Cheese in Bed Incident

This morning, Harrison woke up at 6 a.m., and after nursing briefly, ran off to start his day. I went back to sleep. A little while later, toddler language invaded my dreams. I kept hearing "nana" until I finally woke up. I felt something at my back. It was a bunch of very ripe bananas, and an orange thrown in for good measure. Harrison asked again for a nana and an orange, but I told him I could only peel the banana for him in bed.

It could be worse. The horse head scene from The Godfather comes to mind.

Lazy Mother Morning

I'm sure I'll have more to write later today, but I'll just start out the long weekend with a little observation:

When you're lying in bed, trying to sleep through the high-pitched squeals of your toddler coming from the next room, and said toddler brings you a bag of string cheese from the fridge, because he is hungry and you have not gotten out of bed yet to give him a real breakfast, it is really freakin' hard to open those little string cheese packages with sleepy hands. Hmm, did I remember to put the bag of string cheese back in the fridge, or did I leave it in the bed?

At least I got out of bed before hubby got out of the shower, though. So, when he went downstairs to get his breakfast, I already had the boys dressed and eating breakfast, and thus no chance of getting yelled at for sleeping in till 9:15. I slept in til 8:55. Woohoo.

More Catch Up and a Real Nightmare

Not much going on again in the exciting life of the hausfrau.

Sunday I had a soccer game. It was one of those rare no-score games. It rained mid-game, but thankfully it was warm enough and I was running enough that my soaking wet hair and shirt didn't give me the chills. Plus, after the rain (eek! Nelson flashback there! - You definitely want to click on that link though, and check out the "Customers Who Bought This Also Bought" section) there was a beautiful rainbow.

In the final moments of the game, one of my teammates made a shot on goal, and one of the opposing team's defenders, though not the goalie, caught the ball in her hands, then quickly remembered you're not supposed to do that when you're not the goalie, and sheepishly dropped the ball, while hiding her hands behind her back, doing the old handball reflex: "Nope, couldn't have been me, I don't have any hands that anyone can see." The thing is, the ref didn't call this flagrant handball, which had it been called, would have resulted to a direct penalty kick mere inches in front of the goal. Not the kind of kick anyone could possibly miss. But the ref was very lazy, and because there was less than a minute in the game, DIDN'T CALL IT. The young daughter of a member of the opposing team looked at me as the game ended and said, "Your team should have won that!" Yes, even the kids understand these things. Oh well.

I got pissed at my hubby on Monday for getting mad at me for sleeping in. My husband works from home, and was quite annoyed that while he got the boys their yogurt and cereal breakfasts, I was snoozing away. The fact that I'd already been up at 6 am to nurse Harrison and let the dogs out was irrelevant because I had the nerve to SLEEP IN and it was 9:15 in the frickin' morning! Yep, I have some nerve. I finally got up because it wasn't like I could sleep anyway with all the angry stomping around hubby was doing. So, we yelled at each other about this, then I was pissed at hubby and avoided him all day, but we were fine by dinner time when he brought me a "let's make up" piece of frozen pizza. Yes, we're all about the romantic gestures around here.

Tuesday we went to a mortgage refinance signing. Then I bought more plants for my garden in the hopes that the rain we've been having a lot of lately will keep them alive and that the slugs won't devour them. Slugs are one of those creatures that I really wouldn't be sad to see become extinct. Come on, they're gastropods, which means stomach foot. That's just gross. At least their snail cousins have pretty shells going for them.

The main reason for this post is the nightmare I had last night. I had a blog dream. How strange is that? Anyway, that's not the nightmare. In my dream, I received an email from Kristen, wonderful co-creator of Home on the Fringe, telling me to check my blog immediately because something bad had happened. What was this bad news? Kevin Federline had discovered my Britney-bashing on the blog and was pissed! He'd left a mean note on the blog, featuring a little picture icon of his greasy mug. I woke up in a cold sweat after that.

Some Soccer, Some God Talk

In the past few days, I've been very tired. This is because it is sunny and warm out, and when it is sunny and warm, the boys want to play outside all day long. This is truly exhausting for adults.

Tuesday night, I had a soccer game. We won, though not by much, and I'm rather proud to say I saved our team from the last serious attempt on goal the opposing team made. I wasn't playing keeper, though. Our goalie ran out to attempt to block a shot, and I had to run very fast to get back to the goal, just as the ball came firing down. I got to the goal just in time, and kicked the ball out as it was just coming over the goal line. I must say, I'm much better protecting the goal when I'm playing defense than I've ever been as goalie.

So, in addition to this highlight of the game for me, there was the low point: our keeper got annoyed by a comment from another of our players. The comment, as the keeper was getting ready to do a goal kick: "Try to go for distance, rather than height." Sure, not exactly helpful, as most players do try to go for distance over height with their kicks, but nothing horrible, right? Well, our keeper was bitching about how she didn't have to listen to crap from other players, but I wasn't really paying attention to her, as I was trying to play soccer. The next thing I know, she had stormed off the field and left! Fortunately we had a player on the sidelines who was willing to play keeper, but had never done it before. Luckily the other team didn't score again, though we all played our butts off to keep them away from our goal. I just can't believe how juvenile this woman is. This is the same woman who really hurt my feelings at the first game of the season (and her first time playing with our team) when she told me I shouldn't play defense. The next game, I played defense again and she told me how good I was in the position. Hmm. OK. Whatever you say, crazy freak.

On to the God Talk. I was at stop light and checking out the car in front of me. It had one of those stickers of the boy and girl praying at a giant cross. Hmm, not my style, but I don't have a problem with it. What I did have a problem with was the Jesus fish on the back. This wasn't the regular old Jesus fish, or my fave, the Darwin evolving fish, but the Jesus fish sporting the word "TRUTH" eating the Darwin fish. Huh. Really? Cause I think the truth is that the evolved fish wouldn't be in the water with that Jesus fish. You know, it evolved and all, and got out of the water. And you're basing the "TRUTH" on what? Scientific theory? Proven evidence? No, the Bible. Hmm. This plays into Allie's post from yesterday about the Da Vinci Code, and how pissed off the Catholic Church is about people believing the ideas of this work of fiction rather than their chosen work of fiction. At least the Da Vinci Code was researched.

Just In Case Anyone Thinks Britney Learns From Her Mistakes

I present proof that she does not. Well, she learns very little, at least.



Pros: --She isn't driving with the baby in her lap. He's strapped into a car seat (sort of).

--It's a cool car.

Cons: -- He's riding forward-facing and isn't a year old yet. Babies are supposed to ride rear-facing for AT LEAST a year and until they're 20 pounds, longer if possible. Their necks are way too weak to take the impact of a crash forward-facing.

-- His straps are obviously super-loose if he's slumped that far down in his seat.

-- He is in a convertible. I can see this every once in a while, but I personally got rid of my convertible when I was pregnant, as the thoughts of what could happen in a wreck to a child, even one properly strapped in, in a convertible were too scary. Plus this poor kid isn't even wearing a hat. Who wants to bet Britney doesn't put sunscreen on this kid, either? She and Kev probably like their little boy to be tan and cool.

-- She is wearing curlers while driving. Hmm, maybe you should cover that up with a nice grandma kerchief, Britney Hon.

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So, even on my worst parenting days, I can still look to Britney to make me feel better about myself. The fact that she and Kev are continuing to inflict their spawn on the world, when they can't take care of the one they already have, is scary, though. Poor Sean. Poor World.

And Then He Hugged Him REALLY Hard

I am a part of the local Freecycle group, and get email messages whenever someone posts to the group. It's a great resource, and I have sent off unused "junk" to the homes of other packrats, er, people who may need my stuff, and have received some cool stuff in return.

Today, this post made me think:
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Wanted

Anyone have a Bible available for studying purposes?

Also looking for a Child's Bible:
- without words like "kill" in it
- hopefully with some pictures
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Not laugh, but just wonder. Has this person read the Bible? If so, they must know that the children's version is going to be sorely missing lots of good stuff. Like 90% of the book. Unless the children's version says things like, "And the Lord said to Abraham: "Uh, I really want you to sacrifice your beloved son, Isaac, to me." So, Abraham took Isaac to a mountain top, and was about to make him very sleepy so he'd go off to a different place and sleep forever, when God told Abraham he had changed his mind and didn't need a sacrifice after all." In fact, that whole Abraham story is pretty adult-themed -- His sleeping with Hagar, his wife's handmaiden to have his first child, etc.

In my one semester of Catholic school [I'm not Catholic, but in eighth grade, my mom met Heather Henley, an excessively "make-up friendly" girl in my sad little outcast group of loser friends, and decided I was not hanging out with the right "caliber" of people, so sent me to Catholic girls school for a semester. I suppose after a semester, she realized I still had no friends, and it was costing a lot of money, so she let me go back to my public school.] we studied the Old Testament, and one of the projects we had was to make a children's version of a book of the Bible, with illustrations, to give to some poor kids (and by poor, I mean, really, those poor kids, having to read something written and illustrated by freshman Catholic schoolgirls!). I chose Nehemiah, which was pretty non-violent as I recall, and involved a big wall-building party in Jerusalem. I referenced my children's Bible a lot trying to do a kiddie version of that story, though, flipping between that and the school-issued Catholic version. In fact, in those formidable years, I spent a lot of time reading my children's Bible, and if Mom hadn't pulled me out of Catholic school second semester freshman year, I might have converted! Hey, I could have been a nun today!

On that note, I should try to see if I still have my children' Bible, so I can pass it on. Hmm, then again, maybe I should just send this link instead.

Happy Mother's Day, Moms!

Hope all of the moms out there have a wonderful day!

I got to sleep in today, and Hubby and the boys made waffles for breakfast. I added some bacon, strawberries, and a mocha, and it was the perfect breakfast. I also got a lovely card from the boys, with Hutton's name hand-signed in beautfiful Hutton style.

Just a couple of things to share today:

First, from my hubby:

He sent this as an email titled: "Big Love" special


He took the picture at the local Safeway, and as you can see, it's offering a special on the "Wife" Mother's Day cards - 2 for $5! A great deal if you have more than one wife, but obviously better if you have wives in increments of two.

And, no, I only got the one card from Hubby and the boys. He may have saved the sale cards for his other wives.

I'll add a second post to cover my second observation of the day.

Friday Already?

Yes, it's Friday.

Last night Hutton's preschool had their first ever auction, and it turned out very well. Lots of folks were there, and lots of money was raised for the Sensory Garden in the school playground, which will be a memorial to a student who died last spring. The child's father gave a touching speech and there was a nice tear-jerker slideshow presentation mid-auction of kids at the school playing. My friend babysat our kids for us, so it was nice to get out for a few hours as a couple, even though it wasn't really a date, since we were sitting at a table with other people. But, then again, I had dinner, dessert, two glasses of wine, and won an auction for a soccer ball and soccer store gift certificate, so I can buy a new pair of cleats. That's a pretty good evening for me!

So far today I have researched lead, and am waffling over whether to get rid of my fine china and crystal. We hardly ever use them, but I know they have lead in them. I want to buy a lead testing kit so I can check my everyday plates as well. Just more to be worried about! Life is much easier when one lives in ignorance.

I have also been reading up on Net Neutrality. See below for more information.


Hubby and I were listening to NPR last night, also, and there was a good interview about the NSA Hubby wants to cancel our telephone service because of this. He thinks it's ridiculous that our government is tracking our phone calls for the very, very small chance they will get any information about terrorists. The number of terrorists making phone calls would be so small it wouldn't even make a blip on the graph of phone calls across the country. The fact that America stands a chance of losing Net Neutrality and our country is not outraged at having our phones tapped just disgusts me and makes me wonder about the future of this country.

On that note, time for a latte and to play with some trains with the boys.

Another Busy Week

It's been a busy week here. Well, busy for a lazy hausfrau, so probably mellow and laid-back for most of you.

Monday night I went to Hutton's school to help mat the artworks for the auction tonight. It was actually pretty fun, and I got to see Hutton's beautiful watercolor, which looks like an abstract landscape. Now I won't have any problems bidding on it!

Another plus to attending a PTA function at the school (which I am usually complaining about, because I always feel like a big push-over whenever I go to these things) was that I was talking with another mom whose son sees a lot of the same doctors as my son, and we were comparing notes on treatments. Unlike me, though, she actually seems to like the pediatrician and neurologist, whereas I see them as wasted money most of the time when I leave feeling I still know more about good ways to treat Hutton than they do. Examples: At the last neurologist visit in January, I went in armed with all of my information. "I've read about people having success using Valtrex [an anti-viral drug used to treat Herpes, but found to be helpful for kids with Autism, as they often have viral issues as well] You know, Hutton has been having lots of cold sores lately, so I know he has some viruses." Silence from neurologist. "And maybe we could do M-B12 shots..." [A pretty straightforward treatment, most kids have a good upsurge in language and eye contact on B12] Neurologist: "Well, since Hutton is doing well now, let's just continue what we're doing. " Meaning, just keep doing the speech therapy and ABA. He continues, "Now, there's talk that if these kids are doing well without biomedical treatments, just imagine how great they could be doing with them! But I think we should just wait." Hmm. OK, doc. Of course, I left and continue to treat Hutton with everything I can get over the counter that drs. won't help with. He gets the plain old B12 vitamins, but I'm sure not in high enough doses to really make a difference. We've also done several rounds of chelation [mercury removal] using an over the counter vitamin, and I think that's been a huge success. But, what do I know? I'm just his mother who spends all of her time caring for him and trying to find ways to make him more socially adept and happy.

Now to the pediatrician. We see him about once a year. He comes in, glances through Hutton's file, which has reports from the neuro, the speech and ABA therapist, test results, etc. "How's everything going?" I look at him, decide that it's pretty worthless to try to get him caught up on all we've done in the past year, so just let him do the basic pediatrician check-up. After talking to this other mom, though, I may make an appointment with the regular pediatrician to see about having Hutton's yeast levels checked and maybe trying some Valtrex and B12. If I can get some studies printed out for him to read, he may actually go along with me! What has he got to lose?

Another plus from Monday: I was talking about kindergarten for next year, and that Hutton is ready to go to a "transition class," but I had heard from another mom that there was a new extended day program at our neighborhood school that will have kids with Autism. I was complaining that I hate that I only hear about these things from other parents, when the preschool administrator overheard me as she was walking through the room. She actually stopped to talk to me, knew who Hutton was, and said we would have a meeting in the next few weeks and see about getting Hutton in the extended day program! Wow! I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease. If I can overcome my innate shyness (yes, I am shy! Can you believe it?) I may actually get what I need by, gasp, asking for it!

Long-winded post continues....

Tuesday I had a soccer game. It was a bad game for my team. We had a full team, which is always good, but were missing our regular goalie and one of our best defensive players. By half-time, we were down 5-1. I agreed to play goalie for the second half, as it wasn't like we really stood a chance of winning at that point. I did OK, for a really sucky keeper, that is. I stopped a couple of very easy shots, let in 3 more, but was bored most of the time. Plus, I didn't get any exercise in the second half, so that was annoying, as that's one of the reasons I play soccer. I spent the half pacing and bouncing and singing songs to myself and willing our team to score. So, the game ended being 8-2. Don't think we need to worry about playing in the championship game this season.

Wednesday I went to lunch with my friend Liz and bought some plants at Molbak's, a fabulous nursery in downtown Woodinville. I planted them that afternoon, then went to dinner with my bookclub.

Tonight is Hutton's school auction. I'm quite sure I will buy a Hutton original watercolor, and may buy a beach umbrella embellished with the handprints of Hutton and his classmates. It all depends on if there are more than two of us from Hutton's class there, as there are two umbrellas.

Well, that's the really long-winded, boring post I made of my busy week.

Catch-up

Let's see. What have I missed discussing this week while I've been playing outside with the boys?

Last Saturday's White House Correspondent's Dinner featuring the Truthiest Stephen Colbert ever

After watching this last Sunday (no, I don't watch C-Span, so I caught it after my DH emailed me a link), I was shocked. It was almost painful to watch at times, as I got caught up in the feelings of the audience. You could hear a pin drop at times. After having a few days to process, though, I am blown away by how ballsy Colbert is, delivering biting comments right and left, and often looking directly at Dubya to deliver these blows. I really think the people who decided Stephen Colbert would be perfect for the job were either very stupid, and didn't realize he plays a part on his show, or were very smart, and realized he'd totally cut through the crap (darn, I typed carp again! I think that must be my fave typo!) that a "regular" comic would perform. But, since this is the Bush White House we're talking about, I'd have to go with they were very stupid.

Here's a transcript of the performance. Reading it again, I laughed a lot. I wasn't able to laugh while viewing it because it was so shocking the first time. That, and I missed some of the jokes because they were coming so fast!

My favorite lines:

I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.

And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.

"Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!

You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants, at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.

Stephen, I love you!

Elizabethan England as featured in HBO's Elizabeth I

Jeez, you people are violent! I realize you learned it from your big fat dad, Lizzy, but can't we all just get along? You'd think that after your mother, and another stepmother for good measure, were put to death by your father, you'd be less likely to execute family and loved ones. But, this doesn't seem to be the case. Just watching the dramatic re-enactments of hangings, beheadings, and traitors being drawn-and-quartered was enough to make me want to puke. I never really knew what was involved in the "drawing" part of drawing and quartering. A clue: it doesn't involve pencils and artist's sketchpads, or as I thought, being pulled by a horse.

Then again, the French version of drawing and quartering does involve horses. Aren't our great Western Civilizations civilized?

A Lovely Day in May

Today Hutton did not have school, so after his morning speech therapy, we ran some errands and then took a lovely drive home going "the long way" on some backs roads through the country. It's a beautiful, sunny day, so driving around with the sunroof open and the windows down was so nice!

When we got home, we whipped out the Spongebob Snocone maker, a Christmas gift from my friend, Liz, who remembered how I always lamented never getting a Snoopy Snocone Machine as a child, even though I asked for it every year for Christmas. What a great friend, huh? After assembling the machine, and finding a missing piece in a toy box in the living room (glad I didn't throw out that weird brown piece of plastic when I found it somewhere several months ago!), I started cranking away. We added some Hi-C syrup from the gigantic bag leftover from Hutton's school Walk-A-Thon last month (I had picked up the giant jugs from McDonald's, and had to buy a big box of Hi-C concentrate, and as only about 100 kids walked in the Walk-A-Thon, there was lots of syrup leftover), and they were pretty darn tasty!

Then, we went outside to enjoy the sun. As the boys pushed the toy car around, I set up a flower sprinkler I'd bought earlier in the day. I was unreeling some hose, and saw a tiny little frog hiding on the hose holder. Anyone who has ever been to my house would know that I'm a frog fanatic, so I was very excited, and after showing the froggy to Hutton, ran inside to get my camera. I took some pictures of the boys, while I was at it.

Driving N Smiling

The car must be out of gas.

After capturing the frog on CompactFlash (and scaring him off with the flash in the process), I turned on the flower sprinkler, which was crazy and a little too unpredictable. I soon moved it to a sunnier spot in the yard, far away from the hammock!



Tiny little frog by the hose

Frog compared to hose for size

Crazy flower sprinkler getting a little too close to my hammock.

Hutton enjoyed turning it on and off over the next couple of hours, while Harrison and I lounged in the hammock for a while. Then while the boys played in the sandbox and rode their trikes, I did some weeding and pruning. Now I must take a nap, as Harrison's decision to not sleep through the night had a direct effect on my not sleeping through the night, either.